Expertise and Practice Groups

For the electronic record, let this act as witness to our club's official status in the arts we mention on our website, just in case (and these cases too often arise) someone thinks we're making claims to expertise we shouldn't be:

I have expertise in Iaido. I have no qualms calling myself an instructor in iaido and taking the lead on instruction in our club.

As for the other arts in our club, they are practice groups, which is to say, although there is/are people in the club who are more experienced than others and thus teach the arts, they are not instructors in these arts, at least not in the sense of having aged over time and training with the arts. Their apprenticeships in the arts have been brief. We work hard to sustain what we have learned and to continue to expose ourselves to the leaders in these arts BUT we are not sensei in these arts like I 'might' be considered a sensei in Iaido. I lived and trained in Japan for 4 years with one sensei and I've been at it consistently for 15 years now. The other arts of our club have seen us exposed once or twice a year for a few years now, for several days at a time, to top leaders in the arts. One of us recently lived for one month with one of the sensei: a definitely intense training period if one were to spread his training time out over our regular training calender. And yet, we are all still just students in practice groups in these arts.

Jodo is mainly taught by myself but several of us are similarly ranked and experienced.
Hyoho Niten Ichi Ryu is led by Alex Cook.
Kage Ryu is led by Nathan Morrison.
If Kyudo comes back (we have the equipment!) that woud be led by Sohail Thaker (because David is off to Japan)

There you have it. Iaido is our claim to expertise in our club. The other arts are practice groupings.

Off they go...to return

Joe is off to the East Coast, to Acadia University, to be precise, to begin his post secondary education, and all that entails (I shall live through his tales to be told!). As Yoda might have said, "Miss him, we will."
Just as I've missed Colin and Alex and others who have become part of our family and have moved on. It's very rewarding to see the young grow as they do, to be a part of their lives, their growth. It's more rewarding to have them come back from time to time - to check in - to show care for those of their past, who in most respects, are always with them, a part of the woven fabric of their lives.
So, Joe is off and I'm both sad and happy at once. Life's complexity makes it worth dwelling upon, I think. Joe, like the others on their paths now, have in many ways moved beyond the intentions I had for them in training. They have not yet met me on equal ground in Iaido however, in many related and other areas, they are my teachers. Thank goodness for the young! Already, I see their ability to teach, to evaluate self and others, to ask questions and think about their arts, as ways of being in the world that require me to re-think, ask again, continue to keep a beginner's mind on its perpetual path of knowing.
They leave and return in cycles reminding me of the work involved in getting to be senior in the art, relatively speaking: I too must always return to a place that keeps me (re-)connected, in order to stay on the path of knowing.
See you when you make it back Joe!
Miss you, I will.

How to Tie Your Sword Bag

I had a profound realization today while I was practicing suburi with my iaito and watching Chefs vs City. I realized that I didn't actually know how to properly tie my sword bag! Wuh? I had always just improvised some quick method so I could get out the door and grab an Aero Chocolate McFlurry before I headed home.

So today, while I was watching Red Cliff pt. 2 (big day amirite?), I thought I would look online and see if there was a particular method to tie the swordbag. I came up with this website.

Though they use a tanto in their example, the same method applies to any sword bag.

Hope this helps you as much as it has helped myself.

See ya'll, Thursday!

Joe

September to June schedule

See our main page for the new schedule for September to June.
Senior students will teach (and train) mainly the Seitei Iai on Thursday nights.
I will train and teach both Seitei and Koryu Iai on Saturdays, as well as Jodo.
Niten and Kage ryu will be offered both training days depending on who is present to instruct and practice.

Thanks.
Chris

Delta West Academy Jodo training

Pictures of our training with the students at Delta West are now posted online.
They were eager and intense groups.
It is very rewarding to see young people improve so quickly at endeavours, especially when
they are keen to do well.
Perhaps we planted a few seeds which may one day bud and blossom into martial artists!

Thanks to Sohail and Amanda for their support during our training!

Chris

Volunteering for 2010 - 2011

Despite what should be an insanely busy schedule starting September, I've committed myself and anyone else in the club (or outside of it!) to volunteer once again at the Calgary InterFaith Foodbank.
This will happen once again, the second Tuesday of every month from September to June.
I'll be sure to contact club members before each night to see who might join me.

I'm glad I've set this up again because I have always felt really positive after volunteering.
Hope you might join us and share in that hope.

Chris

Reflections on our 4th Annual Summer Seminar

The family resemblances among the martial arts of Japan continues to remind me of the importance of lineage.
We would not be able to experience this genealogy among the arts we practice quite so directly, I think, without there having been those who have gone before us and on down the line, attempting to keep the schools alive. I say this with goodwill, for there are those who abuse and misunderstand lineage and also those who disparage its worth.
The consistency of fundamentals between schools like the Kage, Muso Shinden, Hyoho Niten Ichi and seitei jo (SMR) are a testament to the importance of lineage. Of course, the goodwill I speak of includes headmasters who chose their successors wisely, believing that the fundamentals of the arts would continue to be transmitted.
Our weekend seminar drove the above idea home for me, in part thanks to Taylor sensei's thoughts about lineage and proficiency, thoughts I believe are largely grounded in a view of the arts as utilitarian, as proficient, as pragmatic: they need to kill. Lineage as transmission requires the transmitters to have understanding and proficiency, however far that can be tested without actually engaging in the acts of violence they have been based upon. It is too simple to debunk lineage as a homily to one's abilities or lack thereof, exclusively. So, when Yamamoto sensei tells me about the time Mitsuzuka sensei came to him, after three years of training together six and sometimes seven nights per week, and told him to leave, to go start his own dojo, because he was ready for this, I believe I have been witness to hearing about an act of inheritance. An inheritance based on the wisdom of Mitsuzuka sensei, perhaps a wisdom developed through his relationship with Danzaki and Hakudo. This is the goodwill I carry in talking about lineage. When the day comes for me to tell my students to get lost, it will be because I believe I've got some insight into their preparedness to carry on the fundamentals of Muso Shinden we have been given from Yamamoto sensei. That's important, I think. And this wouldn't happen if I didn't believe the youth around me were going to surpass me.

Moving on...

A student made a comment very similar to a comment I made many years ago when I first moved to Japan. I understand that comment now, in both contexts. The comment, then and now, was to the effect that our visiting instructors gave so much detail, so much in depth instruction, that it surpassed what we were typically used to. Hmmm. Yes, this is why the young need the old, and why we must all embrace being beginners. And we must also, at the same time, not forget the depth of instruction we have already received, and are yet to receive. Visiting instructors open the flood gates usually, because of the limited time they have with us. They also give understanding that the home instructor will take this information and decide how best to bring that to students, case by case. There is also care and caution needed, and I have been very guilty of this over the years, to not forget the reasons already explained in detail, for the things we do. How we hold information and express it in the arts is one of the most difficult tasks there is, I believe. I struggle with this all the time! I try to whyle away on new information. Dwell on it, roll it around, think about it, remembers what came before, compare, assimilate, throw away. In short, do what Foucault and Kant and many other great minds have asked us to do as we live in the world 'Dare to know!' So, years ago when I unintentionally disparaged my first sensei while training in a dojo in Japan, I did not consider that I was there because of him, and that I was being told what I was being told because of him. Today, I can still do a pretty solid front kick, and that's because of him.

I'm deeply grateful for the patience and persuasion of those around me. Without doubt, Taylor sensei and Watkin sensei are living treasures of martial being. We are honoured and privileged to have them with us every year. We continue to grow because of them. And while we grow we must continue to think for ourselves, as they would expect of us. They are where they are because of such thinking. Thankfully, lineage has brought us all full circle, I believe. The fundamentals are there - they are the same - and so we continue to polish ourselves on the same stones, sometimes guided by different hands.

I look forward to our training in September and bringing into the fold of our lives that which has been shared with us this past weekend.

Chris

Pictures!

Notice the changes?
A mini-slideshow and a link to public folders with lots of pictures of us over the years.
Enjoy!

Chris